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Rotary Wheels Car Show still rolling after 23 years

Penticton car show takes place at Rotary Park on Okanagan Lake
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Submitted photo Ted Carew-Gibson with his 1969 Morgan Plus 8 that he will be bringing to the Rotary Wheels Car Show Aug. 4 at Rotary Park near The Peach concession stand on Lake Okanagan.

Priceless.

It could be one of the answers Ted Carew-Gibson could give if asked what he would sell his 1969 Morgan Plus 8 for. And, not because the $4,900 he paid for it has increased substantially to a rare vehicle worth $50,000. It is all the sounds, smells, feelings and memories the vehicle conjures up in him when he drives it.

“I was working at a bank down the street from the Morgan dealership and there was an 18-month waiting list at that time to get a new Morgan 8. I would often take my bag lunch and sit with the boys in the shop at the Morgan dealership. One day I was there and the owner came up with a telegram a customers Morgan 8 was being shipped. No sooner than he turned around to go back in his office, a fellow walked in through the door. Before he could be told his car was being shipped he said, ‘I’m getting married and don’t want the car.’ The dealership owner turned around to us and asked if anyone wanted to buy it. I said I would gladly take it, so instead of 18 months I had it coming straight from the factory to me shortly after,” said Carew-Gibson.

His love of vehicles came long before that, as did his friendship with the Morgan dealership owner’s son who started a sports car club with Carew-Gibson when they were attending university in Vancouver. It was a short wait until the day Carew-Gibson watched his vehicle come straight off the ship from England and into his possession. Over the past 49 years, Carew-Gibson has raced the vehicle, found friendships in a Morgan 8 car club, had a family and has turned his passion for the vehicle into a way to bond with his son.

“That’s partly why I go to car shows like the Rotary one on the weekend. It is the camaraderie, meeting people talking about Morgans and other vehicles. That is what I like doing, it is fun,” he said.

The vehicle will be one of around 100 on display at the Rotary Wheels Car Show held on Aug. 4 at Rotary Park beside The Peach concession stand on Okanagan Lake.

The car show, run by the Rotary Club of Penticton Sunrise, has been running for 23 years and was spearheaded by the late Ken Paton.

Related: Paton remembered as a driving force

“All the money raised goes back into different community activities that were are in involved like the parkway we are creating behind KVR school that has all the exchange students names on it and projects in Bangledesh to complete upgrades for water and sewer and educational funding ,” said Sandra Henderson, director for the Rotary Club of Penticton Sunrise.

Vehicle registration starts at 7 a.m. on Saturday, followed by a pancake breakfast at 7:30 a.m. The gates will open to the public at 8 a.m. and the official welcome at 9 .m. Live entertainment, by Kyle Anderson, and the beverage garden opens at 11 a.m.

Entrance fees are $2 for adults and children under six, a loonie. Trophies will be presented at 3:30 p.m.

To report a typo, email: editor@pentictonwesternnews.com.

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